What are the top cloud migration tools and services of 2023?
The world of cloud computing is fast paced. Every day, we see new services emerge and old ones shut down. New vendors are entering the market while others are merging or getting acquired. And with so much change happening simultaneously, it is time to ask: How do companies ensure they can migrate their on-premises servers to AWS or any other cloud providers without going into panic mode? The good news is that there are tools and services out there that can help you move to the cloud.
Let us explore the top five tools and services utilized for cloud migration. In this article, you will learn about the cutting-edge AWS migration tools and services that you can embrace for this transition. It also throws light on where each one of these tools and services fits in the process. You will also get details on which of these tools is best suited for your situation.
The importance of considering AWS cloud migration tools and services
AWS is a well-known cloud computing platform that enables enterprises to create, deploy, and scale apps. As your business grows and transforms, your cloud strategy necessitates modification as well. It is significant for your organization to move to the cloud smoothly and securely.
Cloud-based migration tools have become imperative to attaining end-to-end digital transformation. AWS migration tools are designed to transfer databases, assets, apps, and IT resources from on-premises setups to the cloud or from one cloud to another. These tools are useful when you want to migrate your data and instances to AWS or if you want to create replicas of your instances in AWS.
Cost-cutting is believed to be the fundamental driver of migration to the cloud. However, the actual driving forces tend to be divided into three categories:
- Agility: The first and foremost reason to migrate to the cloud is dexterity. The cloud makes the deployment and scaling of apps quick without worrying about handling multiple hardware assets.
- Productive capability: The second reason to move to the cloud is increased productivity as IT staff can focus more on critical business strategies rather than managing IT infrastructure.
- Reliability: The last but not the least reason to embrace the cloud is credibility. By utilizing cloud infrastructure, you can eliminate concerns about IT operational risks.
Top five AWS migration tools and services
The AWS cloud migration market is getting more crowded every day. Amid myriads of vendors, services, and hybrid solutions, it can be challenging to cut through the noise and identify the most appropriate services for your unique needs as an organization.
With numerous available alternatives, there is no one-size-fits-all cloud migration tool/solution. Instead, you will have to assess your modern business needs and choose a set of tools that support your specific objectives. Here are the top five AWS migration tools that can assist your enterprise in embarking on a cloud migration journey:
1. Cloud Adoption Readiness Tool (CART)
Planning to move to the cloud requires pre-migration planning. AWS CART can support you in converting your vision of migrating to the cloud into an extensive blueprint. With the assistance of CART, you can evaluate your corporation’s cloud migration preparedness across these six horizons: procedures, platform, industry, people, operations, and security. After taking the 16-question self-assessment survey, CART will facilitate a full debrief, including a radar and heatmap, to learn about your company’s state of cloud migration readiness.
Features of CART:
· Self-commutative questionnaire to assess the state of your enterprise’s cloud migration or adoption
· Provides in-depth custom reports on your company’s existing stage of migration preparedness
· Offers records and responses across six distinct AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) perspectives
Pricing: Most migration tools today offer free or trial versions that you can use to test them out before you buy them. AWS delivers CART as a free tool to its customers to assess their preparedness for cloud migration.
2. AWS Migration Acceleration Program (AWS MAP)
An outcome-driven approach is paramount for the acceleration of your cloud migration journey. AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) is an all-encompassing cloud migration program that can aid you in expediting the process of moving to AWS. It will assist you in achieving your migration objectives even faster while mitigating any complexities or uncertainty. Additionally, you can attain several business benefits, like approximately 31% in average savings on infrastructure. AWS MAP undoubtedly acts as a map, showing you the path to the success of cloud migration.
Features of AWS MAP:
· Access to proven agile-based cloud migration methodologies, processes, and best practices
· Utilizes a three-stage framework — Modernize, Access, Mobilize and Migrate
· Provides dedicated support for SAP, Windows, VMware Cloud on AWS, Amazon Connect, Mainframe, etc.
Pricing:
You only pay for what you use with AWS MAP. Again, its cost depends on how many resources you choose to register in the API calls and service registry.
3. AWS Application Discovery Service
Devising a robust approach for the migration of data centers involves collecting a great deal of information about on-premises server inventories and their behavior. AWS Application Discovery Service can aid you in gathering data from your servers to give you a clearer picture. It then stores the data in the data store, which you can utilize further to calculate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) on AWS. This service will assist you in devising a migration strategy for your discovered on-premises servers and measure the progress made.
Features of the AWS App Discovery Service:
· In-depth discovery and monitoring of running processes, data, and server specification information
· Detailed estimation of the expenditure required in the migration process of the AWS infrastructure
· Automatic identification of on-premises virtual machines, network dependencies, installed apps and their performance
Pricing:
You can get the AWS Application Discovery Service at no cost. You pay only for what you use, i.e., AWS resources to store your on-premises data.
4. AWS Application Migration Services (AWS MGN)
If you want to move all your apps from the physical platform to the cloud but do not know how, then do not fret. AWS has something for you. It offers a highly automated service called AWS Application Migration Services (abbreviated as AWS MGN) to move all your databases and apps to the cloud. AWS MGN is ideally suitable for lift-and-shift migrations i.e., it will enable you to lift-and-shift a considerable amount of physical or virtual servers.
Features of AWS MGN:
· Continuous and automatic replication of live source servers into an AWS account with almost no or little impact on performance
· Supports different operating systems (OS) and apps, including Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and SAP.
· Offers a customized replication schedule for a large number of migrations.
Pricing:
You can utilize the AWS Application Migration Service free of charge for 90 days, i.e., 2160 hours, after which you will incur charges on an hourly and monthly basis.
5. AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
To manage and run thousands of databases is not child’s play. For modern enterprises, AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) has come as a breather from time-consuming and expensive physical database management systems. AWS Data Migration Service (DMS) is an avant-garde cloud migration service that enables you to move different types of data to the cloud. For instance, it can aid you in migrating data from different databases like NoSQL, relational, etc. and data warehouses to the AWS cloud. It also facilitates you to carry out perennial data replication with existing alterations. Moreover, you can scale all your modern database needs up or down with the help of this serverless service.
Features of AWS DMS:
- Migration-related automated management and monitoring of various software and hardware infrastructure.
- Supports almost all DBMS engines, including MongoDB, MySQL, Db2LUW, Oracle, MariaDB, etc.
- Offers homogenous and heterogeneous data migration from validated data sources.
Pricing:
AWS DMS has a pay-as-you-go model. This means you will be required to pay only for the resources you utilize.
Modernize to maximize cloud value!
Automation tools are the cornerstone of migrating your digital infrastructure to the cloud. Choosing the right cloud migration tool simplifies and speeds up the workload. In the digital era, the demand for cloud migration tools is skyrocketing. Selecting the suitable tool from dozens of available options can help you reduce effort and time.
